In accordance with the prior art method of inserting bent terminal pins in a printed circuit board, a plurality of straight terminal pins are inserted in an insulating header and protruding portions of the arrayed terminal pins are then bent in accordance with the technical requirements.
Thereafter the ends of all the terminal pins are inserted simultaneously in corresponding holes formed in the printed circuit board. In this manner an array of bent pins can be mounted on a printed circuit board with an insulating header for holding the terminal pins in a predetermined orientation.
In accordance with a prior art method of bending and soldering terminal leads to a circuit module, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,987, an automatic machine is provided with means for forming short right-angle bends in ribbon leads and then advancing the bent ends into position to be soldered to a heat-sensitive circuit. As depicted in FIG. 14 of this patent, the ribbon leads are first bent by a downward stroke of bending blade 47. Then, as shown in FIG. 16, the ribbon leads are severed by a subsequent upward stroke of cutter blade 46. The bent sections of the leads are then moved into the soldering position.
Thus, the prior art methods for mounting bent leads on a printed circuit board or the like are disadvantageous in that they require that a plurality of separate operations be performed. In particular, the steps of bending and mounting the terminal pin are performed at different stages by different equipment. This requires a complicated apparatus and leads to inefficiency and increased manufacturing costs.